What the El 2 Baby Boom
by Joycelyn Solo
Summary: As the Kents await the arrival of baby Jonathon, Kara learns more about her new home and, more imporantly, her emerging powers.
1. Chapter One

**What the El #2 - Baby Boom  
a _Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman _- based fan fiction  
by: Joycelyn Solo**

  
**Author's note: **Second (or third if you count #0) in the _Lois and Clark_ **What the El?** series.   
**Disclaimer: **_Lois & Clark_ and associated characters are property of December 3rd Productions who, I believe, had them on loan from from DC Comics. Most any other character we'll run into later are property of DC Comics. I mean no copyright infringement, this story is for entertainment purposes only.

**Chapter One**

_Metropolis, August 1997_

--  
The Metropolis Skyscrapers were possibly one of the saddest teams in professional sports. Though they held numerous records in both the American and National Baseball Leagues, they were for such honors as most errors in a game, longest losing streak and, astoundingly, more losses than actual games played. As such, it was nearly impossible to gear up any enthusiasm for the less-than-reputable team. 

It was the lack of enthusiasm held by the city, and even by the team, that held Clark Kent captive in _The Daily Planet_ newsroom two hours after he was supposed to leave for Smallville. 

With Lois, his wife and partner, already on maternity leave for the past month, Clark's workload had increased considerably. In the past week he had even more to do as he prepared to take his own leave in anticipation of their son's arrival. 

If Perry White had any problems when Clark's request for maternity leave crossed his desk, he didn't say anything. Though _The Planet_ offered the option to both male and female employees, it was rare for a man to take advantage of it. Losing two of his best reporters for three months couldn't be easy for the editor-in-chief to deal with. 

To soften the blow, Clark had offered to do some correspondence work and keep in touch with his international contacts. Perry, being Perry, refused. 

"Son, when that baby arrives, the news is going to be the last thing you or Lois think about. I appreciate the offer, but I want you to focus all your energy on Lois and your baby." 

For all his skill with words, there was little Clark could have said to convey how much Perry's words meant to him. As soon as he got to Smallville, his focus would be entirely on his family and he was grateful that he wouldn't have to worry about his reporting job.

Of course, his other job was another matter entirely. There was no "leave" for Superman and he would still be making regular trips to Metropolis and hope the presence of the familiar red cape would ward off potential crime.

Before he or the Man of Steel could leave, however, there was one obstacle in his way: his season-closing article on the 'Scrapers -- a term of affection for their efforts to "scrape" by every season. 

Sighing in frustration, Clark turned away from the computer screen just as Jimmy Olsen, budding photographer and _Planet_ errand-boy, stepped out of the elevator. 

"Hey, CK." He called across the vacant bullpen. "What are you still doing here?" 

Clark didn't bother to answer until Jimmy had crossed the newsroom and made himself comfortable at Lois' vacant desk. "I'm finishing up the Skyscrapers' piece for Saturday's edition before I leave."

Jimmy looked briefly at his watched. "Weren't you supposed to leave a couple hours ago?"

Clark gave the computer a pained expression and Jimmy's eyebrows rose in surprise. "You're stuck? On a sports piece? That's like me not being able to take plant pictures." 

Clark scowled menacingly at the monitor in response, willing the story to write itself. 

Jimmy rolled Lois' chair over so that he could see the story. When he saw the blank document it was difficult to keep quiet. Seeing Clark's frown, he offered weakly, "You want any help? I know I'm no Mad Dog Lane, but I've watched you two do this enough times I should be able to at least pretend like I've got good ideas."

Clark smiled at Jimmy's offer. Over the last three years of working together, he and Lois had developed a system for getting through rough patches in their reporting. It was second-nature for both of them to turn to the other; he hadn't even realized how lost he was without it. "Thanks, Jimmy, that just might help. If you were Lois, I'd tell you something basic about the story and then you say the first thing that comes to your mind. Then we progress from there until we find a workable angle."

"Alright," Jimmy nodded. "Hit me."

Clark pulled up the file that had his notes written up and read the first item. "The Metropolis 'Scrapers are oh-nine this season, not including the charity exhibition they lost to the Metro Little League all-stars last week."

"Wow." Jimmy said, then realized that didn't sound very professional and tried again. "Well, even without being trounced by a bunch of twelve-year-olds, it's common knowledge that the 'Scrapers suck."

He blanched after realizing that his second try didn't sound very professional, either. Instead of chastising, Clark nodded for him to continue. 

"What I mean is, if everyone knows that the team doesn't have a chance in He -- I mean, if everyone knows that there's a slim chance of the team winning, why do they even bother? Why pay for a ticket if you know they're going to lose?"

"What keeps us coming back, you mean?" A small smile broke across Clark's features. "That's brilliant, Jimmy. It's exactly what I needed."

"Yeah?" Jimmy asked, looking hopeful.

"Yeah." Clark affirmed. "The 'Scrapers have a losing streak, but a winning spirit. I like it." He swiveled his chair back toward the keyboard, tapping at the keys with enthusiasm. After getting a couple ideas down, he turned back to Jimmy. "Thanks, Jimmy. With any luck I can finish this in time to still catch a flight tonight."

"Sure thing, CK." Jimmy stood, heading toward his own desk. Halfway there a thought cowled to him and he turned back to Clark. "Hey, just think, in a couple years you'll be able to take Clark Junior to a 'Scrapers game. Maybe they'll even be in a winning streak by then."

~~~~~~~~~~ 


	2. Chapter Two

**What the El #2 - Baby Boom  
a _Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman _- based fan fiction  
by: Joycelyn Solo**

  
**Author's note: **Second (or third if you count #0) in the _Lois and Clark_ **What the El?** series.   
**Disclaimer: **_Lois & Clark_ and associated characters are property of December 3rd Productions who, I believe, had them on loan from from DC Comics. Most any other character we'll run into later are property of DC Comics. I mean no copyright infringement, this story is for entertainment purposes only.

**Chapter Two  
**_Smallville_

--  
By the time he landed behind the Kent barn, Superman's alter ego could feel the positive affect of the Kansas air as his mood lifted. 

Granted, it probably had less to do with the clean country air than the aroma of his mother's cooking. He swore he could smell her culinary signature over Illinois, but that may have been wishful sniffing on his part. Friday night dinner marked the beginning of his four-week stay on the farm with his wife and son. The olfactory draw of Martha Kent's kitchen was a beacon drawing him home. 

He could practically taste his mother's special batch of gumbo -- which she promised to make in celebration of his extended stay in Smallville -- as he spun out of the bright spandex of Superman into the subdued cotton of Clark Kent. Though unfit for human consumption, Martha never denied her son his favorite cuisine. Clark had been all over the world and eaten some of spiciest dishes known to mankind, but none compared to what his mother did to the Cajun specialty. He wasn't exactly sure what all she put in it, but only someone with a cast iron stomach (or "Stomach of Steel" as Lois liked to joke) could handle it. 

This time he hoped she made enough for two steel stomachs. With the arrival of his younger cousin less than a month ago, the Kent kitchen had an additional Kryptonian appetite to contend with. 

An orphan like him, Kara Zor-El was the sole survivor of Argo City. Everyone -- including the New Kryptonians when he informed them of Kara's arrival -- was surprised to learn an entire city had survived the explosion that ripped through the core of the planet Krypton. When the protective shield began to fail after three decades, Kara's father -- Clark's uncle -- used his brother's designs to manufacture a star-faring vessel to deliver his daughter to safety. 

When he discovered Kara lying among the remains of her space craft, he had felt an instant connection to her. As she explained later, it was probably the subconscious establishment of the "family bond." All Kryptonians possessed the ability to communicate telepathically with one another and the link between family members was especially strong. 

Having never experienced the bond before, Clark had very little practice with preventing the broadcast of his thoughts to his cousin. As he helped her control her yellow sun-induced powers, Kara helped him to shield his mind -- though she admitted that she was not all that experienced herself. Mental control came with maturity and she was only fourteen when she left Argo City. 

Of course, it had been two years since the destruction of the city, but Kara was _still_ only fourteen years old. Unsure of how long it would take his daughter to reach a habitable planet, Zor-El had placed her in stasis -- a deep sleep in which she did not age. 

To most outward appearances, the blond, blue-eyed girl was an typical teenager. 

"Not likely," he mused aloud as he entered the house.

Lois Lane, having watched her husband take his time as he crossed the length of the yard, walked into the living room just as Clark did. "What isn't likely?" she asked.

Clark smiled at his wife and accepted the kiss she gave him before answering. "I was just thinking about Kara. About her being your typical teenager." 

"Not likely." Lois agreed. "I've never met a teenager who could hold a pickup truck while your father changed the oil."

"I remember doing that." Clark's smile widened. "There's a whole list of chores Dad thought up for me and my powers. I think he just wanted to keep me out of trouble." 

"I can only imagine." Lois said dryly. "Speaking of your cousin, she's upstairs in the soon-to-be-nursery. I think the pending arrival of another cousin has given her something positive to focus on in the last week. Your mother was worried about her."

"I know. I wish I could have been here more -- for all of you -- but Perry and Jimmy thought I must be lost without you and insisted I 'hang with the guys' while I still had the chance."

Lois stared hard at her husband when he mentioned 'last chances.'

"And may I just say that for a woman about to give birth," Clark looked appraisingly at her, "you look fantastic." 

Her features softened. "That gets you out of the dog house, but I'm too busy for anything else. I have work to do."

"What work?" He asked. "We're on maternity leave. Our son from an alternate dimension will be arriving tomorrow with a time-travelling author. What work could you possibly have?"

"I'm still trying to track down the space ship your cousin arrived in from another planet." She replied, matching him in statements of the otherwise-absurd. If anyone outside their family heard what they were talking about...it was probably best not to think how they would react. 

"Any new leads?" Clark asked. While Superman and Kara had been at STAR Labs shortly after her arrival, someone had taken her memory globe from the crash site. Considering its importance to his cousin -- it was the only thing she had to remember her family and former world by -- Clark promised to find it for her. 

It had been three weeks without any success.

Lois motioned for him to follow her into the kitchen where she'd left her notebook. "For a simple 'satellite salvage operation' -- as they've called it -- I had to cut through a surprising amount of red tape. It took two weeks just to have someone return my calls. If I'd been in Metropolis I could have driven out there and found my own answers."

"I know, honey, but that wouldn't be good for the baby." he teased. "Besides, you got farther than I did. In addition to Perry doubling my workload and he and Jimmy keeping me out every night, Superman has kept me pretty busy."

Lois found it difficult to ignore the guilt in his voice. "Clark, Kara understands that you've been trying, and she appreciates everything we've done for her. It can't be easy for you in the big city without your wife and partner to keep you in line." She took a seat at the table and flipped her notebook open. "I finally found someone willing to talk to me. A surprisingly friendly lieutenant at Jackson Air Force base, where the wreckage is being kept." 

"Awfully nice of them to keep things local, isn't it?" Clark sat in the chair across the table from his wife and leaned back. "If we're lucky, maybe they don't know what the wreckage is since they did take it to the closest base."

"Would it not make sense to haul the ship to the closest base?" 

Lois and Clark both looked up to see Kara standing at the foot of the stairs. 

"I am sorry, I did not mean to overhear." The young girl apologized, casting her eyes toward the kitchen floor.

"It's alright, Kara. I was coming to tell you before I saw that Clark was here." Lois said. If her mechanic assistance wasn't enough to set Kara apart from other teenagers, her polite manners definitely did. 

"Jackson is a very low-level base." Clark explained, inviting his cousin to join them. "Being next to the city, they entertain a lot of tourists. If the government thought the crash site was actually from an extraterrestrial ship, they would have taken it to a more heavily-guarded facility."

"Which means Superman can stop in on Monday and ask for a friendly peek." Lois provided. 

"Why not ask for a 'friendly peek' tonight?" Kara asked, parroting Lois' peculiar phrasing. Martha had provided her with a dictionary of local vernacular -- or slang -- but she still had a difficult time grasping some concepts. Though she learned the rudimentary basics of her cousin's primary language, she had not counted on there being so many different levels and meanings to almost anything spoken. She found that just talking to Martha, Jonathon or Lois was enough to send her upstairs to the dictionary for assistance. 

Lois either didn't notice or didn't mind Kara's phrasing of the question and answered, "If they don't know what they have we don't want to make anyone suspicious by Superman asking to see it now. He's been known to stop by the different bases for pep talks with the armed forces. If he happens to ask about the salvage job then..."

"It will appear less suspicious. I understand." It reminded Kara of a tactic employed by a television character Jonathon had introduced her to. Ben Matlock often pretended innocent curiosity in order to find the answers he truly needed for his court cases. 

"Besides," Clark added, "If you haven't sensed your memory globe being activated, chances are they've ignored it until now. It will probably be fine for at least a couple more days."

Kara looked thoughtful for a moment as she sensed something else from her cousin. "And with the baby coming tomorrow you will want to spend tonight readying yourselves."

"There's also that." He agreed, hoping that his cousin hadn't picked up on his other plan for the evening before his son arrived. Changing the subject, he said, "I hear you've been helping in the nursery."

Kara guessed from the question and Clark's attempts to strengthen his mental shields that he had not intended to broadcast his thoughts to her. Following his lead, she ignored the images she'd glimpsed from his mind. "Martha showed me how to put paper on the walls. I was nearly finished before I sensed your arrival."

Clark smiled, both in relief and at his cousin's literal word usage. "We probably have some time before dinner. Let's go upstairs and see." 

~~~~~~~~~~ 


End file.
